I am in agreement essentially with what he is saying here, except in one point, in which I wish I could have a very deep conversation with Dr. Sproul about it. The point concerns this statement:
Now, don't get me wrong here, I am not disagreeing with God requiring perfect obedience to His law. What I disagree with is the idea that perfect obedience to the law is the merit that earns salvation. Heb. 7:19a "
For the law made nothing perfect."
So then, what made Jesus the Son in whom the Father was well-pleased? The way I read the NT it had to be one (or both) of two things: (1) Who He was - the eternal Son of God, and (2) His perfect trust in the Father (i.e. His faith), which obviously had to do with His humanity. It is far too extensive to get into this in a forum, but suffice it to say that Jesus lived by faith because His flesh veiled His divinity - Heb. 10:20, and the obedience He
learned (Heb. 5:8) was the
obedience of faith in the time of trial. (Rom. 16:26).
According to Romans, Galations, Hebrews, and elsewhere, the basis of our relationship with God is faith, not obedience to law, and this follows that only by faith can we follow Christ into the heavenlies. And since our faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8, et. al.), we must rely on God for everything, including the faith we live by. Therefore,
not even perfect obedience to the law can get us into heaven. It simply doesn't happen, ever.
Jesus' strongest rebuke to His disciples (besides a few times of very bad behavior) was about their lack of faith. Jesus' strongest rebuke to anyone at all was to the Jewish leaders who were the instigators of the idea that righteousness with God is on the basis of obedience to law. This was their greatest deception and their greatest bondage, their own self-righteousness, which is the natural result of that idea. The whole problem with the idea of righteousness by law, or even that perfect obedience to the law could merit salvation, is that belief in such a doctrine motivates people to continually strive for perfection, and this results in self-righteous pride (always, without fail). This is where many Christians have a serious problem that will never be overcome by more "perfect obedience to law." The only way to perfect righteousness with God is perfect faith in Him, and this means that the idea of righteousness by law must be completely abandoned.
This of course will beg the question "what about the antinomians"? That is, what of those who say that the idea of salvation by faith alone leads to lawlessness? The problem with that idea is that such a person doesn't understand faith of the scripture. "The righteous shall live by faith" is a statement of integrity, not of iniquity. Lawlessness (sin) is a lifestyle of people who do not live by the faith discussed in scripture. To have integrity in the confession of faith, one must
live by it. In other words, the faith of scripture is a faith that involves the whole being, and this means that righteous
deeds in the sight of God is an outward expression of the faith being lived by, just as Jesus' sinlessness was the outward expression of His faith and
who He was. (Rom. 3:31).
Finally, to dispel the idea of perfection, "Nobody's perfect" (except Jesus Christ) is a
perfectly true statement. I don't believe in the idea of "Christian Perfection." Although I said "The only way to perfect righteousness with God is perfect faith in Him," I am not suggesting that any of us could achieve perfection, I was simply making an exaggerative statement as a point, that we must abandon the idea that our obedience to God's law makes us righteous before Him. Therefore, since we are never perfect in this life, we must always exercise faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice for us. There will never be a time when we are perfect enough (even by faith) to not need it.
One final thing, I have heard Dr. Sproul say (to his credit) that the R.C. doctrine of
The Treasury of Merits is probably the most repugnant of all R.C. doctrines to the Protestant. Yet he continues to support the idea (by implication only) of righteousness by law, by saying that there is a
Treasury of Merit which is the works of Jesus Christ alone. I might be misunderstanding him, but I don't think so, since he is quoted in the OP saying "
Christ makes his merit available to us," which is in the context of merit on the basis of obedience to law. I get the idea that Dr. Sproul has not completely abandoned it. This is why I would like a deep conversation with him.
TD
